Plastic
by Miss Perspicacious
Summary: Love is true. Love is plastic. But sometimes children don't understand the logic behind the analogy. (Four vignettes revolving around the theme of plastic, aka, the everyday synthetic material. Kid Sakura, Kid Sasuke, Kid/Genin Naruto, and Genin MinaKushi.)


**Plastic**

_Rorudesu-chan_

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**1.**

10-year old Sakura opens her lunch box and finds her ham and cheese sandwich inside a Ziploc. Her shiny, golden pear is covered with cling wrap too. Later when she finishes her meal, she reaches for her mineral water and realizes that her mom has placed it inside a larger Ziploc—sealed likewise to keep germs from coming in contact with the bottle.

After shuriken training, Sakura heads to the girls' locker room, eager to take off her sweat-soaked shirt and change into something dry. Her pink shirt and white short pants have been stuffed inside a plastic grocery bag. Her hair ties, socks, spare shoes, and of course, her underwear, are all housed in their own flimsy, plastic containers. All of her things are sealed and protected—save for small, clean towels packed inside a brown paper bag. _Mom must've ran out of plastic at last_, Sakura thinks.

She doesn't know where her mom keeps getting them, but she seems to have an endless supply. Sakura hates seeing her stuff inside a plastic bag. She hates having to unwrap them first before she could have the thing in her hands. (It's not even a birthday present that should keep her waiting). She hates hearing the crumple of plastic and how slippery-smooth it feels between her fingers. She hates it when the sides of the plastic become tough to pull apart because they tend to stick together like glue.

But what Sakura hates most is how her mother can't simply leave her things be. Unprotected, without any safeguard, and exposed to the open air.

The next time Sakura has to go through the chore of unraveling her food or undergarment from the stubborn clutch of synthetic material, she catches herself wishing she could be just like other kids whose moms don't bother sealing their lunch in Ziploc or packing their clothes inside a plastic bag to keep dust off the fabric.

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**2.**

When old man Teuchi asks his top customer if he prefers an instant cup over Ichiraku's freshly-made and cooked-on-the-spot ramen, Naruto answers his question with a life experience instead.

Naruto's peculiar, near-death experience was choking on a piping hot bowl of plastic ramen. It happened on the day of his eleventh birthday. A mysterious box had arrived in his doorstep that morning. Naruto didn't bother checking for explosive tags or searching for the sender's information. He quickly tore open the top of the box and shoved his hands through the foam peanuts without caution. He dug up packs of instant ramen noodles with his right hand. With his left, he uncovered a letter folded twice.

The contents of the box were a gift from a ramen factory, and Naruto had been chosen as a candidate to test samples of their latest noodle product. Reading only those first two lines of the letter were enough information for the ramen fan boy.

Naruto had never been so happy. Somewhere out there, someone must really care for him that he or she sent him such gift on his special day. It almost, almost filled the void in his heart where his parents were supposed to be.

Just by sniffing the air, Naruto knew that five minutes were up and that it was time to dig in. He gathered the noodles with his chopsticks and ate. The flavoring was perfect that Naruto nearly cried. It tasted _so_ good, Ichiraku's were not even at par! He began drinking the soup with gusto and that's when Naruto's ninja instincts started kicking in.

The steaming hot strands were suspiciously pale white. Almost transparent, and not the usual yellowy starch color. In fact, the noodles looked glossy and that had nothing to do with the soup or the oil. When Naruto took another strand between his lips, he realized it tasted strangely like metal. With the soup base pooled at the bottom of the bowl, it was easier to see the noodles for what they really were. Naruto's eyes widened. He started to feel heavy and he fell off his seat. His belly was twisting with a sharp, excruciating pain. All of a sudden it became difficult to breathe.

Kakashi-sensei found him thirty minutes later when Naruto failed to meet up with Team 7 at the village entrance for a surprise birthday bash disguised as a mission to Suna. His student was lying on the floor, clutching tightly to his stomach. The Copy Ninja thought the Fourth's Seal was weakening and so he called for Yamato's help. It turned out the Kyuubi was well-behaved, locked in its cell. However, the medic's diagnosis reported, 'indigestion due to excessive synthetic material intake.'

By the time Naruto is finished telling his story, he expects Teuchi to halve his ramen portion or reduce the quantity of pork toppings and fish cake. Naruto apologizes over and over again. It was, after all, a half-assed thing to do, missing the sender's details.

Teuchi slams a bowl before Naruto's face and pours in the soup. He puts in bundles of fresh noodles and adds the toppings. He gives him another bowl and does the same, familiar process.

Teuchi says, "You lack shinobi brains because you got nothing but those instant crap to feed you!" He belts out a hearty laugh.

Naruto beams with delight. He simply looks at the bowls and saliva dribbles down his mouth. "Thank you, old man!"

"Well, I shouldn't be surprised," says Teuchi. He pauses momentarily and then asks, "You just made all that up, didn't you, Naruto?"

"_HELL_ _NO_!" Naruto's voice cracks with conviction. Noodles dangle from his mouth and Teuchi laughs again.

No, of course not. Naruto would never lie to anyone—not even to an ordinary Konoha civilian who has relied on this foolish, ramen-loving boy countless times.

"Another bowl, Naruto?"

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**3.**

Little Sasuke stares at the blunt edge of his toy kunai.

He flings it toward the bark of a tree (he's seen his big brother Itachi do this with ease), and sighs when the kunai doesn't hold up longer than a second. _It's fake alright_, Sasuke says to himself and he's smart enough to figure it out. Trust his father, Fugaku, to actually give him what he wanted: a genuine, shinobi's kunai.

Sasuke runs to Itachi and stabs him in the back quite literally. Itachi barely flinches.

"Nii-san," Sasuke says. "Let's train!"

"Ah, Sasuke, forgive me," says Itachi and Sasuke cuts him right off before his brother could complete saying his infamous excuse.

"'Maybe next time,' is what you were going to say, right?" Sasuke raises his kunai proudly in the air. "I'll never be as good as you if you keep saying that!"

"Actually," Itachi smirks. "I was going to say, 'I can't take anyone seriously who comes at me with a toy.'"

"It's Otou-san's fault! He won't give me the real thing! He thinks I'm too young. Nii-san, how old were you when you had your first, _real_ kunai? Did you hit bull's eye the first time? I bet you did!"

Itachi looks at Sasuke who is catching his breath. The excitement in his little brother's eyes is palpable and it touches him.

"Otou-san just doesn't want you getting hurt, Sasuke. The kunai's blade is very sharp and a small boy shouldn't run around playing with it. A kunai is capable of hurting someone."

"I know, I know," Sasuke pouts. "You don't have to keep telling me."

A moment of silence passes between them, and Sasuke eventually gives in to his brother's reasoning. He listens to Itachi the way he doesn't with Fugaku. Sasuke doesn't understand why Fugaku is always strict with him just because he isn't like his talented, older brother.

"Sasuke, give me your toy."

The young Uchiha looks up and wonders. He hands over the plastic kunai and Itachi replaces it with a metal one.

Sasuke doesn't anticipate the weight of the blade so his hand nearly drops it. Sasuke sheepishly smiles. His fingers curl around the hilt and his eyes scrutinize the weapon's appearance. It's made of steel and rust is starting to form around the edge, indicating the numerous times it's been used. A stray thought occurs to Sasuke: how many people has his brother killed?

"Sasuke," Itachi puts a hand on his brother's shoulder which startles the boy a bit. "Did you hear me?"

"Uhh. . ."

"I'll show you the proper stance and then try hitting the mark on that tree right there."

Sasuke loses no time following his brother's instructions. He angles his shoulders rather awkwardly that Itachi has to lower his elbows so the kunai would fly straight ahead, and not toward the earth.

The young Uchiha is about to hurl the kunai when Itachi warns, "Don't mention any of this yet to Otou-san. We'll surprise him later."

Sasuke agrees without second thoughts, and then tries to show off.

Three years later, on a cold night with a full moon, Sasuke finds himself face down on the floor. Meanwhile, his mother and Fugaku are across him, lying in the pool of their own blood. Itachi towers over their lifeless forms. _This must be a bad dream, this must be a bad dream_, Sasuke tries to convince himself. But Itachi has already shown him the truth with Tsukiyomi.

Eighteen years later, on a cold night with the same full moon, Sasuke remembers Itachi and his glorious sacrifices. He remembers training with him. He remembers the beloved brother he always was, not the one he pretended to be.

Scarred, shattered, and perhaps beyond the point of healing, the lone Uchiha is surprised that his mind is still capable of coming up with ridiculous what-if's to cope.

Like, what if Itachi had simply stabbed them all with the blunt edge of a plastic sword.

* * *

**4.**

Kushina hums to herself as she twirls the plastic, red rose by its stem.

"You got another one?" says Minato who pushes his feet against the ground. He swings to and fro in his seat, awaiting reply from the redhead.

Two things his Jiraiya-sensei taught him: one, if a girl takes more than a minute to think about her answer, it means she's thinking really hard and whatever she says, she means it. Two, if a girl—

"I hate it!" Kushina says and settles to the swing next to Minato's.

"W-why?" Minato's feet act as brakes that stops his from flying forward in his swing.

"First of all, I don't know who keeps sending me these." Kushina eyes the fake petals the way Konoha's Torture and Interrogation Unit would force the answers out of an accused. "Someone must be pranking me. I've received a dozen of these already, and the bastard still won't reveal himself."

"A _dozen_? Wow! He must _really _like you, Kushina. He can't be joking about it."

"Then he should just come out and say it!"

"Maybe he's waiting for the, um, right time?"

"What?" Kushina looks at him as if it's the silliest thing she's ever heard.

"Anyway, what's the other thing?"

Kushina fidgets with the flower in her hand. She spreads the petals for Minato to see, and tries to tear one apart, but fails.

"It's fake."

"I see." (But really, he doesn't. If anything, Kushina should be pleased, Minato thinks.)

"It means his feelings—whatever they are—aren't real. They aren't genuine. Because this flower's fake, it's made of plastic."

Minato takes a moment to process this. He recalls what Jiraiya-sensei told him. Fake flowers are supposed to give an impression that a man's love is genuine, it won't wilt or die like real flowers do. That it's supposed to last forever.

Minato draws in a sharp breath and says, "And if he gives you a real one?"

Kushina manages to pluck one fake petal off the stem and flicks it to the ground. "It means his love is real." She takes another one and lets it fall off her fingers. "It means it's true." The third one she pulls out, she crushes in her left hand. "It also means if he gives me another damn fake rose, I'll chase him out of Konoha!"

Minato is secretly relieved she didn't make the threat of force-feeding the admirer all twelve roses he's already given.

"So you'll tell him what I just said, right, Minato?" says Kushina.

When they leave the park and go on their separate ways, Minato doesn't go home immediately. He stops by the Yamanaka Flower Shop, and looks for the freshest and liveliest flower he could get his hands on.

The second thing Jiraiya-sensei taught him was that if a girl says she hates what you give her, it could mean she's too shy to admit she likes it.

His master failed to add something though. If a girl says she hates it, it could also mean she just really hates it.

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**Author's Note: **For Sakura's vignette, it takes place during her academy days. Meanwhile, Sasuke's takes place a year before he entered the academy as it's shown in the canon story that even before he started school, our favorite, chicken-haired avenger has always had a penchant for training with his big bro Itachi. Naruto's vignette occurs after the Pain invasion in Konoha, and he flashbacks to his genin days when he ate that plastic ramen. (Seriously, who does that? LOL) Minato and Kushina are both genin here, way, way before NaruSasuSaku's time, of course. The park scene in their vignette happened sometime after the famous MinaKushi rescue scene in the canon. Just to clear things up. :)

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What do you think of this story? A review won't take up too much of your time, right? (^/_\^) Itachi wuvs u!


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